True Family Relationships

December 29, 2014 Year B

“He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly His mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.” But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.”” (Matthew 12:46–50, HCSB)

Jesus tells us what defines true relationships. Jesus is called down by some people because His physical family wants Him to go home. Scholars think that Joseph has died and that Jesus is being asked to come home.

To this comment, Jesus asks the question: “Who are my brothers and sisters?” He is about to re-define family. Jesus changes the definition of family. In the mind of Jesus, family is not clan-based. Family is eternal-based.

Jesus redefines family as people who do God’s will. In other words, another Christian is my family. My family is now defined as the church. He will expand on this later, but for right now, Jesus explains that family is more than the clan I grew up in.

This has enormous implications for our relationships. The don’t relate to people now in relation to my personal family clan. Instead, I relate to people from the wider family of the church.

Two things come to light from this passage:

1. How I treat my new brothers and sisters is the definition of family. Jesus later said that the world will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another. So I have treat other Christians like I would normally treat people in my clan.

2. My eternal family will continue to increase. God wants me to keep expanding the family. The numbers of brothers and sisters will increase. This means that there are new opportunities for friendship and for conflict.

Application: I have stop relating to other people from the point of view of a clan. I need to expand my family idea to an eternal one.

Prayer: Teach me God to view other Christians as my brothers and sisters, and to view the lost with a desire for them to be part of my eternal family.